Home

PRIMORDIAL GODS

Chaos
Cronus/Saturn
Cyclopes
Eris
Eros
Gaia
Nemesis 
Nyx
The Fates
The Furies 
Uranus

GODS OF OLYMPUS

Aphrodite
Apollo
Ares/Mars
Artemis/Diana
Athena/Minerva
Demeter/Ceres
Hephaestus/Vulcan
Hera/Juno
Hermes/Mercury
Hestia/Vesta
Poseidon/Neptune
Zeus/Jupiter

Hades

DESCENDENTS OF THE TITANS

Aesculapius
Atlas
Chiron
Dionysus
Eos/Aurora
Graeae
Harpies
Helius
Leto
Nereids
Nike
Oceanids
Orion
Orpheus
Pan
Pandora
Persephone
Prometheus
Selene/Luna
Sirens
Styx
The Gorgons
The Muses
Thetis
Triton

LEGENDS

Daedalus and Icarus
The Minotaur
Tantalus

OTHER

Our Theories
Games
Bibliography

 

Hades

Ruler of the Underworld. 

Zeus killed his father Cronus.  Afterward, he and his two brothers, Hades and Poseidon, divided the universe equally amongst themselves by casting lots.  Zeus was given the sky, Poseidon won the water, and Hades was given command of the Underworld.  The brothers shared the earth and Mount Olympus in Thessaly, home of the gods.  Hades was considered an unlucky name to ancient Greeks.  Therefore, he was given other titles, some of them being Pluton (rich one), Klymenos (the renowned), and Polydegmon (all-receiver).  Although Hades was a gloomy figure, he was never considered an evil god.  The Underworld was also not considered to resemble hell.  Hades did not torture the souls there; punishments for crimes and wrongdoings were left to the Furies.  After people died, they were brought by Hermes to the banks of the River Styx.  Charon (not to be confused with Chiron, the centaur), the boatman, brought the dead across the water to the Underworld.  Cerberus, a three-headed dog, ascertained that no souls could escape back to the world of the living.  An abyss existed for the most evil souls, called Tartarus.   Surrounded by towering walls and bronze gates, it was so deep in the Underworld that a hammer dropped from heavenly skies would take nine days to reach it.  Some of its prisoners included Cronus, Sisyphus, Ixion, Tantalus, and the Titans.

The main story surrounding Hades includes Persephone.  She was Zeus and Demeter's extraordinarily beautiful daughter.  To make sure she would not be abducted, Demeter placed her in hiding.  However, Hades was so drawn to Persephone that he tunneled up through the earth and carried her away with him.